Drove around the “back lot” of Disney, following advice from an informed source.  Huge collection of warehouses!  Cool fire station.  Though it didn’t look like much, I saw one of the first employee housing sites for the Disney empire, which essentially gave them the ability to control the zoning rules.  Whenever the country has its 51st state, it won’t be Guam or Puerto Rico.  It’ll be Disney.

Drove through Orlando, which was a mistake.  It’s a much bigger (complex) city than I expected.  Got to Blue Springs State Park, winter home of manatees, who sadly left last week.  In the 1880s it was the hot spot in Florida.  Then Flagler built his trains.  But it’s a restful park where one can actually swim in the spring (if you bring a swimsuit).  Wildlife.

Drove back through Orlando, which put a damper on the day’s enjoyment.  Spent the rest of the day projecting my timing to St. Louis, where I’ll park the bike and fly home for a week.  I’ll hit Tail of the Dragon on the way.

Not the best day, but I’m just stalling until Friday.

A gated housing community inside the Disney grounds. Magic Kingdom indeed.

The beginning of the Springs.

Wildlife.

Best Western to Everglades NP to Motel 6 in Orlando.  80 miles in the park, 310 miles to Orlando.  Long day.  Drive sucked.  Another overturned 18 wheeler completely closed the road.  Had to use toll road ($15.40!).  That makes two overturned trucks in Florida.  Plus two close calls with motorists, both in Florida.  I’m not feeling the love from the bulk of this state.

Everglades was okay.  Not terrific.  Boat ride educational, but not worth the 2 hours it took.  The best saltwater crocodiles we saw were at the dock!  I think the key takeaway was that I don’t ever want to spend time on foot in a swamp.  But I already knew this.

Tried to use the GoPro.  Not too successful, but I’ll keep trying.

About two feet long.

About eight feet long.

This “Tree of Death” will kill you. The leaves burn your skin, the eaten fruit melts your esophagus.

They build straight roads in the swamp.

Taken with the GoPro while driving

Monday was a rest day.

Lots of cigars

I wish I knew the story of this car

My boot

Short takes first.

• Needed new boots. Key West bikers’ footwear of choice is flip-flops.  The motorcycle store doesn’t carry boots. Went to Sears.
• Wind continues to be the keynote weather issue of the trip.  Tent stakes were ripped out of the ground.  On the advice of a fellow tenter, I went to Home Depot and bought 3/8″ X 8″ nails.  Heavy and bulky, but they fit the bill. On a positive note my tent continues to excel, though I’m beginning to think it won’t survive the trip.
• The advantage of staying on a military base is cheap price.  The disadvantage is that I must ride on it fully covered.  Exit the base, strip off long pants and long sleeved shirt.  Change boots for sneakers.  (Normal speed in town is 25.)  Reverse the process to come back on.  Gets old.
• No special pricing deals for visiting multiple museums.  Seems they could work a deal among themselves.
• Because of the large number of scooters, there are lots of free scooter parking spaces.  A Goldwing is on the large size, so fit’s a tight fit.  But it’s still free.  There is no free vehicle parking.
• Driving skills seem to be frowned upon.  But at 25 MPH, one can get away with a lot.
• The bridges connecting the keys were completely rebuilt in the 80s.  Though it’s still slow, the drive is a lot less nerve-racking than in the 70s, the last time I visited.  The old bridges still stand in some places as fishing piers.  They seem unbelievably narrow by today’s standards.
• Bring money.

There are historical markers everywhere.  I visited about seven museums.  There are perhaps seven more that I passed on.  The point is that one should study all the possibilities before beginning a museum crawl.  Nearly all cost money.  In order of preference:

1. Fort Jefferson.  Absolutely not to be missed.  Expensive, but worth it. A full day 70 mile fast ferry ride to an island.  The fort is huge and swimming during the visit is welcomed.  Fun and educational.
2. Truman’s Little Whitehouse.
3. Lighthouse, Custom House, Mel Fisher’s Treasure, Oldest House (tie).
4. Hemingway’s House.  Most people love this tour.  Me, not so much.

The bars are many and essentially interchangeable, though they do vary somewhat in classiness.  The key difference is AC or not AC.  I found a really good wine bar (Grand Vin).  Sloppy Joe’s, a tourist magnet, is actually pretty good.  Many bars have a history.

I spent most of one day simply walking down Duval Street, the main drag.  Lots of shops/bars.  On that note, honestly, Key West is not a town I’d take young children to, if only because of the inappropriate t-shirts being displayed.  (I never saw anyone actually wearing the t-shirts.)

The natives are universally polite.  It’s also pretty obvious the town has a drinking problem.  I rate the city much higher than New Orleans for things to do and people to talk to. Of everywhere else in the U.S. I’ve visited, I’d compare it most closely to San Francisco.  Speaking of coincidences, I attended a performance by Huey Lewis and the News.  Great show.  He really sells it.  On a down note, they don’t seem to have any smoking restrictions, or at least they don’t follow any.

It was a fantastic week, done without much attention to the time. If I had more money I could have done a whole lot more.  In my procrastination I did fail to map out my next leg to Alaska.  But I’m definitely staying in Florida until the 8th in hopes of watching a Space X launch at Kennedy.

This is actually not true, but it’s a nice sign anyway.

There are a lot of indications of the city’s proximity to Cuba.

An odd Circle K store. The same was true for Denny’s, Starbucks, etc.

This was the name of the bar Hemingway enjoyed. But it’s not the location. Full of tourists.

The original location for the Sloppy Joe’s. This was where Hemingway drank.

Key West has a superb war memorial.

The middle school mascot.

Picture taken from the Key West Lighthouse. No longer in operation. Surrounded by landfill.

Mallory Point. At sunset, filled with vendors and tourists. Madness. No sunset is worth the crowds.

Certainly a unique scooter.

This monument is about two thirds up the keys from Key West. Oddly, Key West has no suffered a direct hit from a hurricane in recorded time.